SHIT...new cab got cracked in shipping

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Metaltastic

Member
Feb 20, 2005
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So I scored an amazing deal on an older Engl 4x12 (with a cloth-grille and rear-mounted V30s, here's the auction page with a pic) on ebay from a guy (probably a pawnshop owner, given that his ebay name is Bestwaypawn) in Washington State, and he shipped it to me for like $70 (retardedly cheap, IOW). However, his "packing" was literally to tape pieces of cardboard so that they covered the cab; there was no padding at all, and the cardboard followed the angles of the cab so perfectly that if you saw a silhouette of it, you wouldn't even know it was packed :Smug: Given that the guys for UPS ground handle packages like gorillas, I was not very surprised when I discovered the entire upper right corner was CRACKED from front to back, including the corner covers!!! :mad: (granted, they're plastic, not metal, but still...) Observe...

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My question is, do you think this is worth making a stink over, trying to get my money back and all that? I'm pretty sure the seller didn't get insurance on it because of how cheap the shipping price was, so that would mean for him to give me my money back he'd probably just have to pay it out of pocket, and somehow I doubt he'll be coerced into doing that too easily (especially if he's a pawnbroker, I'll bet those guys have seriously thick skins). The cab still feels solid, and I tried it out at volume levels that wouldn't kill me standing in front of it and it sounded fine, but I still worry...
 
And just to clarify, this is gonna be pretty much a studio-only cab, so my concern is whether you guys think this will pose a noticeable problem for recording...
 
I hate to say it, but if you don't fix it, who knows what kind of rattles and weirdness you'll find when recording. Especially when the cab starts to resonate.

I don't know what to suggest regarding whether you try to send it back or not, that's your call. But if you keep it, here's a few suggestions.....

I had an amp head shell that was split like that... Anyway:

1. take the cabinet back off, remove the speakers, and then unscrew and remove the baffle board. There's probably 12-16 wood screws around the perimeter inside that once you remove them, should release the baffle. Pull it out.

2. Now you can have room to repair the split corner and with the baffle out, you can open up the crack. What I did is took a large straight slot screw driver and wedged it into the corner crack. Use it to hold the crack open to poor some good wood glue in the crack. (If there's any loose splinters in the crack, pull them out before applying the glue so the crack can close up as much as possible.) I used Elmer's Carpenter Wood Glue on my head shell (not the crappy white stuff you used in school) and it worked pretty well. But whatever you use, make sure it's a professional quality wood glue.

3. Once the glue is in, pull the screwdriver out and lay the cab on it's side in such a way that you can stack some weight on the cabinet and that will hold the crack closed. I stacked a bunch of bar bell weights on the cab when I did mine. Once the crack is compressed wipe off any glue that squeezed out and let it set overnight. The next day you can put the cab back together.

If it's like my head shell, and it looks like it judging from the pics, it probably split where the glue was holding the joint together and needs to be reglued. It may not have actually split the wood a whole lot.

Sorry to hear about the damage.
 
Listen. Post clips. You'd have no fucking idea how often I've thought 'My Sweet Satan, father of all unholiness, truly I have screwed the pooch most epically... I beseech thee, have mercy on this poor circuit's soul and I will offer mine in return..." before just plugging it in and finding it to be perfectly fine.

Jeff
 
See if the guy will reimburse you a bit, first. Did he say in the auction or under shipping terms or anything that there'd be shipping insurance? If it's even vaguely mentioned he's still obligated to do it under eBay's ridiculously buyer-biased policies (which work in situations like these). If he didn't, you're basically hoping he's a merciful guy.

But seriously - when I buy something, I expect it'll show up in the condition I ordered it in. Anything different, and you didn't get what you paid for. Especially with this! Jesus, I can only imagine what would happen in the long term with a crack in a resonating box.
 
Id fix it dude just for piece of mind. Its probably not a major fix anyway do you have any good carpenter friends? It wont break the bank to fix it and you got a pretty sweet deal on the cab in the first place so it would be worth it to have it 100%.

Last year i got a peavey ultra on the bay and the guy wrapped it in masking tape and wrote my address on it:rolleyes: the sooner they stop retards from having kids the better.
 
If he didn't packed it properly and it gets cracked, it's his fucking problem. Just ask him what to do. If he insists in not giving you the money back, I would try to get a discount like 150$. If he insists in not giving you anything at all, I would probably try to fix it myself. In Germany they have to give you a two week return (if shipping is over 40€ the seller has to pay for return shippment). I don't know what the law is like in the usa?
 
Thanks guys, especially 53Crew, that's incredibly useful, and will really help should I end up keeping it! I should mention that the crack is really jagged, so I don't think it's a glue joint; I think the plywood literally cracked (I couldn't capture it in a picture, cuz the focus was scwewy Mr. Wabbit), so glueing it would help but it would still have that really weak spot.

More importantly, it occurred to me last night that Hoehlentroll is absolutely right; even if the dude did have insurance, there was ZERO padding, so I doubt UPS would pay anyway. So it's all on this guy, and hopefully if worse comes to worse I can get ebay to force him to cough up the dough.

I honestly think that it won't make that much of a difference in sound, especially if I glue it, but really my feeling is I've got the money to get a refund and pay the extra to get a better cab (a Mesa Stiletto, for example, which is what I was originally planning on) so I just don't wanna take any chances (especially at high volumes, where the resonance might make this problem a lot more apparent). If I can't get a refund, then I'm sure it'll still work, but I don't wanna have this variable!
 
Yeah, ask for some kind of compensation, as he failed to pack it properly, regardless of how much he (didn't) charge you. Decent wood glue will hold that thing together fine, without any decrease in sound quality.
 
Metaltastic said:
his "packing" was literally to tape pieces of cardboard so that they covered the cab; there was no padding at all, and the cardboard followed the angles of the cab so perfectly that if you saw a silhouette of it, you wouldn't even know it was packed :Smug:
Click to expand...

Unbelievable! from the sound of it he took great care in the aesthetics of his packing job while failing completely in actually protecting the cab from damage. What an asshole.
asshole.gif


Sorry to hear of your misfortune. :erk:
 
Dude that sucks. Metaltastic, when/if you open it up do you think maybe you can jot down the wiring for me. I bought one of those cabs empty recently for 100$ and put speakers in it. but I couldn't figure out how to wire it up to their ohm switch.
 
Aww, why couldn't you have asked me that yesterday? I just opened it up this morning and had a look around inside! :erk: Here's a pair of pics (look at all that fiberglass on the back cover, holy god!)

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I can tell you that it was wired in what I guess is standard for a 4x12, in Series/Parallel (the bottom diagram on this page), and unless you want to run the cab in stereo or use the "through" output, I'd just wire it up following that diagram and attach it to a standard female mono 1/4" jack, ignoring the switch and other jack entirely.
 
GuitarGodgt said:
Dude, can you say WTF?

I'm amazed that he was smart enough to know what the fuck he was selling. In all seriousness you got your money back right?
Click to expand...

Nope dude vanished after that he had also sent it to me not working he had fried it by plugging a 110v american amp into a 220v eu outlet and decided to sell it on ebay prick lucky enough he just blew some fuses so i fixed it up handy enough and that amp is built to withstand wwIII in terms of the shipping thing is bombproof- still i was like :OMG: when i saw the packing job he did so i feel for ya metaltastic
 
Hey that sucks with the cab. You should send these photos back to the seller and ask for some of your money back.

I bought my 5150 off ebay and the tubes came loose in shipping and shattered inside the head. I was lucky the seller was cool, so he gave me the money to get new tubes.
 
Metaltastic said:
I'd just wire it up following that diagram and attach it to a standard female mono 1/4" jack, ignoring the switch and other jack entirely.
Click to expand...


Yeah , that's what I did, wired it to 16ohm mono. Just sometimes i'm neurotic about having shit dialed in. even though you're right i'll probably NEVER use it in stereo, there is still that peice of mind.
 
+1 for contacting the seller and giving him a big WTF

it would be one thing if the item was properly packed and damaged...but everyone and their fucking mother knows that a cardboard coating isn't going to keep shit from happening

did you pay with paypal? if so, there's ways you can go about taking your money back from the seller...
 
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